Obama’s Kenya Flights Cost $6 million, Now Tied for Most Total International Trips

(Alexandria, VA) -- Today, President Obama returns from his most recent voyage to Africa, having now spent 161 days abroad during his presidency on 41 international trips. That’s the data from National Taxpayers Union Foundation’s (NTUF’s) new Presidential travel study “Still Up in the Air.”

---

NTUF found the President has traveled internationally as much as any U.S. President through July of the seventh year in office – equaling former President Clinton with 41 trips. Though, Obama has tended toward shorter stays, falling shy of Clinton’s 178 days spent overseas. Study author and Policy Analyst Michael Tasselmyer said, “Where in the world is Barack Obama remains the easy question, the difficult question for taxpayers is: What in the world is the cost of the travel?” Table 1. Presidential Travel Abroad Through July of Seventh Year in Office Notes: Sources: State Department data, media reports. Visits are defined as the number of countries traveled to during a trip (e.g., if the President spends time in 4 countries before returning to the U.S., that is counted as 4 visits). The most recent estimate on the hourly cost of flying Air Force One from Fiscal Year 2015, verified by NTUF, is $206,337 per flight hour. This figure, obtained by Judicial Watch, represents a slight decline from 2013. The President’s trip to Africa has taken him to Nairobi, Kenya from Andrews Air Force Base, and on to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia then back to D.C. for a total flight time of 29 hours, at a cost of $5,983,773. Visiting this region of Africa requires additional security measures for the President. In this instance security costs are compounded by the presence of 20 Members of Congress who traveled with the President and additional members of the Executive branch. Table 2. Presidential Obama’s Most Frequently Visited Countries Notes: Sources: State Department data, media reports. Fourteen countries tied with 2 visits: Australia, Belgium, Burma, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, India, Indonesia, Italy, Poland, Russia, South Africa, and Vatican City. Despite two prominent trips to Africa, President Obama has most frequently traveled to European nations, as well as Mexico, Afghanistan, and South Korea. Additional notable findings include: Presidents continue to travel more in their second terms (during the jet travel era), even President Eisenhower spent 54 more days abroad during his second term than during his first, Obama continues this trend. Vacation trips are considered official travel and thus funded by taxpayers. In FY 2015 the Office of Management and Budget reported that the Secret Service was appropriated an estimated $852 million for “protection of persons and facilities” and $31 million for “international field operations, administration and operations.” The Air Force will be moving ahead with replacing the current fleet of VC-25 aircraft (Air Force Ones), which could cost upwards of $1.7 billion over five years Tasselymyer concluded, “While flight costs can be estimated, the rest of the expenses associated with travel, including security, lodging, food, and more, not just for the President and Air Force One, but additional staff and airplanes, remains opaque.” Doug Kellogg, National Taxpayers Union Foundation